Yardbarker: San Francisco Giants

Tim Lincecum will ask for one-year deal in arbitration

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:37:30 -0500

Sporting News staff reports Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum will pursue just a one-year deal with Giants this winter, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Lincecum, who is eligible for arbitration for the first time , had a 2009 salary of $650,000. The Chronicle says it is likey Lincecum will break Ryan Howard's record salary of $10 million for first-time arbitration-eligible players. "As of today, we'll pursue a one-year deal," Lincecum's agent, ...

Theoretically, because of a "special accomplishment" provision, the arbitration process allows...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:13:55 -0500

Theoretically, because of a "special accomplishment" provision, the arbitration process allows Thurman to negotiate without regard to service time, meaning Lincecum could be compared with any pitchers, meaning teammate Barry Zito (averaging $18 million annually) and CC Sabathia ($23 million average) could enter the conversation, meaning open the vault. Article VI Rule F (12) in the basic agreement states the arbitration panel must consider comparisons with others who have similar...

Special Accomplishment

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:38:27 -0500

Tim Lincecum’s two Cy Young awards makes his arbitration case more complicated: Theoretically, because of a “special accomplishment” provision, the arbitration process allows Thurman to negotiate without regard to service time, meaning Lincecum could be compared with any pitchers, meaning teammate Barry Zito (averaging $18 million annually) and CC Sabathia ($23 million average) could enter the [...]

Minor Moves: McPherson, Hulett, & Liz

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:00:53 -0500

A’s sign 3B Dallas McPherson to a minor league deal Amidst rumors of a potential Jack Cust departure, it seems only right that Billy Beane goes out and inks the now 29-year-old McPherson. The big lefty has always butchered Triple-A pitching, but has serious issues with strikeouts and health. In fact he missed the entire 2009 [...]

Break open vault for Lincecum

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:07:03 -0500

Tim Lincecum is having an unprecedented career, and now he's in line for an unprecedented contract. A historic negotiation is expected after the Giants' ace won Cy Young Awards in his first two full big-league seasons, and being eligible for arbitration for...

D12: Could Tim Lincecum be baseball's next $23 million man?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:35:22 -0500

Welcome to 'Duk's Dozen, a streamlined selection of 12 morning-fresh links and items to start your baseball day. It welcomes your email submissions and tips here or via Twitter. 1. Cue the "better buy stock in Doritos" jokes: Our own Tim Brown reports that Tim Lincecum(notes) and his agent could file a mind-blowing $23 million arbitration request. They wouldn't get it, but it'd set the tone for either a record arb award or a big multi-year deal. Yahoo! Sports2. H...

Can Giant’s GM Brian Sabean Become an Iron Chef?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:39:43 -0500

Brian Sabean’s off-season shopping list:

First baseman (with power)

Short-stop (who’s name is not an anagram for aged-rental)

Left fielder

Right fielder

Catcher

Oh, and pick up some milk, bread and maybe some of those frosted holiday cookies. And, one more thing. Could you take Aaron Rowand back? I left the receipt on the firdge, maybe you can get a partial refund or at least some sort of store credit? Thanks, Brian, call if you have any questions!

THE GIANTS’ KITCHEN is about as bare as the one you had in your first apartment. They’ve got a lot of Top Ramen (Travis Ishikawa, Fred Lewis, Eli Whiteside), an expensive frozen Ostrich steak their weird uncle sent them as a gift (Aaron Rowand), some old produce that’s turning into liquid before their very eyes in the crisper drawer (Edgar Renteria), and a case of PBR (Eugenio Velez, John Bowker, Kevin Frandsen, Nate Schierholtz). In other words, they’ve got food, but nothing you’d want to eat.

Chef Brian Sabean has stocked his cupboard with a dearth of offense, aside from a nice fillet of Panda.

It’s true, the Giants have a couple bottles of Cristal in their cellar (Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain) and their spice rack (bullpen) has enough to compliment the right plate. But if this were Top Chef , Padma Lakshmi would have the unenviable task of judging the Giants’ dish.

Since the 2002-2003 offseason when Sabean re-tooled the defending National League champs into a team that went on to win 100 games and the NL West, the GM has come up empty while doing his winter shopping.

Yet impressively, despite a menu that’s more Applebee’s than French Laundry , the 2009 Giants were in contention right up until the last two weeks of the season.

Their success was due, unequivocally, to their starting pitching and late relief. But, thanks to their inept offense, so much was asked of the pitching staff in the early going that it finally ran out of steam in September.

Lincecum’s ERA was 3.38 after Sept. 1, while fellow starters Jonathan Sanchez, Matt Cain, and Barry Zito allwed a combined 51 earned runs in 101 innings pitched (4.54 ERA) over the same time span. Not goo enough for a team that averaged just 4.05 runs per game in ‘09. Only Brad Penny had a September ERA under three, but in the single biggest game he started, Sept. 19th in Los Angeles, he coughed up seven earned runs in just 2.2 innings.

If the Giants can improve their lineup — something they’ve failed to do since 2003 — they stand an excellent chance of reaching the post-season.

The problem? Each season there is that elite class of free-agents — Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodiguez, to name a recent few — but the Giants refuse to even attempt to attract this level of talent.

Thursday, during Tim Lincecum’s Cy Young Award press conference, Sabean said he has not contacted agents for Matt Holliday or Jason Bay, and does not expect to either.

To paraphrase Sabean, he said he refuses to be a “stalking horse” for any player who’s only using the Giants to get more money elsewhere, and that he will consider only free agents who have a genuine interest in relocating to China Basin.

The newly extended GM doubts neither Bay or Holliday have a genuine interest because the Yankees, Red Sox and other bigger-market teams will be pursuing them.

Yet, perhaps too optimistically, Sabean believes there is a solid crop of “second-tier” free-agents on the market.

Sabean is going to the grocery store in desperate need of some beef, yet he’s looking for it in the frozen dinner isle.

The possible second-tier free-agents the Giants may be considering are listed below:

Outfielders:

Rick Ankiel, Stl.

Rocco Baldelli, Bos.

Marlon Byrd, Tex.

Mike Cameron, Mil.

Coco Crisp, KC.

Jermaine Dye, CHWS.

Frank Catalanotto, Mil.

Vladimir Guerrero, LAA.

Erik Hinske, NYY.

Andrew Jones, Tex.

Hideki Matsui, NYY.

Xavier Nady, NYY.

Infielders:

Adrian Beltre, Sea.

Ronnie Belliard, LAD.

Russell Branyan, Sea.

Orlando Cabrera, Min.

Joe Crede, Min.

Carlos Delgado, NYM.

Pedro Feliz, Phi.

Mark DeRosa, Stl.

Troy Glaus, Stl.

Orlando Hudson, LAD.

Aubrey Huff, Det.

Nick Johnson, Fla.

Jim Thome, LAD.

Chad Tracy, AZ.

Juan Uribe, SF.

Catchers:

Bengie Molina, SF.

Jason Kendall, Mil.

Greg Zaun, TB

Ivan Rodriguez, Tex.

Yorvit Torrealba, Col.

This is not a complete list of available free-agents, and it doesn’t factor in any players the Giants could acquire via a trade (San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez, por ejemplo). Also Chone Figgins, for instance, is not listed and though he is a notch below the likes of power-hitting Bay and Holliday, he will still likely command more money than the Giants are willing to pay.

There is no team in baseball with such a drastic disproportionate collection of talent — and this didn’t exactly sneak up on the Giants.

The saying is when you’re given lemons, make lemonade. And while the Giants have some delightful, sweet, organic, ripe lemons in their pitching staff, they seem reluctant to add a simple ingredient like water to make things work.

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Taking a Lesson From Tim Lincecum

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:17:27 -0500

A big topic this off-season will be the focus on Tim Lincecum's first year in arbitration. Lincecum was designated as a Super Two player, which means he replaces his third league minimum year with an extra year of arbitration, thus starting the arbitration process one year early. That's huge for a pitcher who won the CY Young Award in back to back years, which were his first two full seasons in the majors. Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports wrote about how Lincecum could end up ...

Giants Added 4 to 40 Man Roster; Second-Tier FA; Sign Cain to Extension

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:51:00 -0500

Catching up with some news, the Giants recently added four prospects to their 40 man roster. This was reported at their website by Haft, Baggarly, and Schulman. Here they are in order of where I think they rank in terms of contributing eventually (and also probably in order of contributing) to the Giants:Kevin PucetasHe had been winning big in the minors until his 2009 big bump of a season, once winning the title of "Most Spectacular Pitcher of the Year" for having the lowest ERA in...

Fantasy Baseball: Early Mock Draft- Round 2, Pick 1.

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:46:02 -0500

More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP 7 months ago: San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum delivers a pitch in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres on Sunday, April 12, 2009, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy) Browse more photos » Tim Lincecum. SP, SF. Yeah, that's right. First pitcher off the board. If you're drafting hitters based on 5x5 categories, chances are y...

Lincecum's Arbitration Number: $23 Million Plus?

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:58:09 -0500

Yahoo's Tim Brown penned a column today about Tim Lincecum's likely record-setting arbitration case that included this tidbit from an unnamed baseball executive. Lincecum's agents and the MLB Players' Union had discussed the possibility of submitting an arbitration figure of $23MM plus one dollar for the back-to-back Cy Young Award winner. Why the extra dollar? So Lincecum would be making 100 cents more than the highest-paid pitcher in baseball, C.C. Sabathia. The symbolic...

Offseason Fears, Vol. MCMVII

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:18:27 -0500

I'm almost okay with the Giants acquiring another second baseman and moving Freddy Sanchez to third. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to pay a bunch of money for a player whose worth is completely intertwined with his ability to play a good defensive second base, but at least I wouldn't have to wince when 75% of the infield came up to the plate. The idea doesn't make a lick of sense, but I could file it under "acceptable silliness" if the team is improved as ...

Stats and the Cy Young

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:27:51 -0500

Stats are good. I’m not even referring just to the advanced statistical arguments that support Tim Lincecum’s Cy Young, either. It’s good that there is a record of events to which to refer while doing research. Old-timers can’t argue; wins, losses, and runs batted in are stats. They’re a record of events. The new school and old school might disagree with what stats are important – you say RBI, I say OBP, etc. – but there isn’t a baseball fan...

Lincecum Repeats

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:07:37 -0500

Tim Lincecum wins the NL Cy Young Award for the second year in a row. Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants was elected the National League Cy Young Award winner for the second consecutive year in balloting by the BBWAA. Lincecum had the lowest victory total over a full season of any starting pitcher [...]

Tim Lincecum Wins Cy Young

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:42:45 -0500

Wow! I wasn’t expecting that! Was it the curse of two teammates splitting votes (Carpenter and Wainwright of St. Louis)? Either way, Lord Lincecum becomes the first pitcher in history to win the Cy Young award in his first two seasons – a simply jaw dropping accomplishment. Congrats to Tim for another amazing season.

Offseason Priorities for the Giants, Part II: First Base

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:44:06 -0500

Supposedly, the easiest position at which to find a hitter is first base. Alas, we are Giants fans. It's a little disingenuous to say there's a post-Will curse on the organization -- J.T. Snow did provide a couple of fantastic years to bookend the meh -- but there hasn't been a lot of offense from first base since Will Clark left. The Sabean-led Giants are the kind of organization that can look at Shea Hillenbrand and Ryan Garko, and say, man, now those guys are clearly better...

A Note on the Giants' Offseason Plans

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:58:09 -0500

If you missed the State of the Sabean, here you go. Some of the key points: Brad Penny wants too much money. Juan Uribe wants too much money. Bengie Molina wants a multi-year deal, which the Giants aren’t willing to do. Trades stink because other teams want good players. The Giants are going to buy a new offense through free agency. They aren’t going to spend for Matt Holliday, so get ready for Jermaine Dye. Welcome, Jermaine Dye. Those last two aren&...

Why Tim Lincecum Should Win the Cy Young

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:16:15 -0500

He's better than everyone else. What, you want more? Chris Carpenter missed a month and gave up six earned runs to the Giants, which is a sin so egregious he should be ineligible for next year's award as well. Adam Wainwright had more wins, but Lincecum's middle name is LeRoy, so those two equally important pieces of information cancel each other out. Another reason that Lincecum should win is that he had to pitch every inning with the knowledge that if he gave up a run, ...

Offseason Decisions for the Giants, Part I: Catcher

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:48:50 -0500

My secret two-pronged plan for the catching position in 2010: Buster Posey starts. And if he hits .210/.290/.330 for his first 200 at-bats, he still starts. And if he allows a passed ball per week, he still starts. The Giants don't a roster that would be favored for a playoff berth right now. If they ever have that kind of roster in the near future, it will probably include Posey being an impact player. So the team needs to figure out if Posey can be an impact player in the short-...